BIS tight-lipped over private refusals

It seems very odd that BIS want this process of course designation to be so confidential. While we can see QAA's completed reviews, we don't get to know who has applied for designation, unless they get it. BIS advance two reasons why the process is commercially confidential and therefore exempt under Section 43 of FOIA . They say that the public interest in knowing is outweighed by the public interest of ensuring the "commercial interests of external businesses are not damaged or undermined by disclosure of information which is not common knowledge and which could adversely impact on future business". In addition, the BIS claim their own commercial interests could be "damaged as disclosure could damage out business reputation and the confidence our customers have in us, making them reluctant to provide us with commercial sensitive information in the future". Apparently, this process is *so* fragile, that BIS have to make it confidential because if it wasn't, the providers would decline to participate in it. Clearly we are not going to get a new HE bill from this government, but we should be ensuring all political parties commit to getting regulation properly sorted after May 2015.